wear out

verb

wore out; worn out; wearing out; wears out

transitive verb

1

: tire, exhaust

2

: to make useless especially by long or hard usage

3

: erase, efface

4

: to endure through : outlast

wear out a storm

5

: to consume (time) tediously

wear out idle days

intransitive verb

: to become useless from long or excessive wear or use

Synonyms

• break
• burn out
• bust
• do in
• do up
• drain
• exhaust
• fag
• fatigue
• frazzle
• harass
• kill
• knock out
• outwear
• tire
• tucker (out)
• wash out
• wear
• weary

Examples of wear out in a Sentence

keeping up with twin toddlers wears me out

Recent Examples on the Web

The previous version—the Pegasus Trail 4, a SELF Sneaker Award winner—was cute enough to wear out to brunch and durable enough to help our tester maneuver through muddy terrain on off-road jogs. —Hannah Singleton, SELF, 1 Apr. 2025

Bathrooms at many of the roughly 280 state parks in California are deteriorating and worn out because the parks themselves date back generations, Doyle said. —Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 29 Mar. 2025

The Dodgers didn’t miss a beat behind a lineup poised to wear out pitching staffs throughout the summer. —Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

Hamilton maintained his lead throughout the 19-lap sprint race and defended the position from Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen, who lost the second spot to Piastri after his front tires began to wear out significantly. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 22 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for wear out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

wear out

verb

1

: to tire gradually

worn out from exercising

2

: to make or become useless by wear